Dad Confronts Abortion Protesters

[babylonsister]

Run time: 02:40 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jEFWDYB0rWo   Posted on YouTube: October 23, 2010 By YouTube Member: Jerrycrew Views on YouTube: 1992   Posted on DU: October 25, 2010 By DU Member: babylonsister Views on DU: 8286

 
Husband confronts abortion protesters
After activists yell at his wife outside a clinic, he gives them a piece of his mind and videotapes the whole thing Video
By Tracy Clark-Flory


We're used to seeing videos of anti-abortion activists spewing venom in front of women's clinics, but rarely do we get to see the tables turned. Thanks to Aaron Gouveia, now we do.

He and his 16-weeks-pregnant wife went to a women's clinic in Brookline, Mass. for an abortion after discovering that their baby had a congenital deformity with no chance for survival. On their way in, they were confronted by images of dismembered fetuses and two women yelling, "You're killing your unborn baby!" Enraged, Gouveia decided to confront the protesters while his wife was in surgery, and he caught the whole interaction on his cellphone. In an essay for The Good Men Project, he admits to feeling a bit "foolish for getting so heated" in the moment, but who can blame him? Not to mention, any foolishness on his part is overshadowed by the Christian protesters' decidedly un-Christ-like behavior.

The video, which you'll find below, is a reminder that reproductive rights isn't just a women's issue, and Gouveia's essay makes a simple, genderless plea: "If you’re able, stand up to these bullies in nonviolent ways. Speak out. And if you have a camera, use it."

http://www.salon.com/news/abortion/index.html?story=/mwt/broadsheet/2010/10/25/abortion

[ck4829]

1. Lays out what the anti-choice crowd really thinks of women quite clearly

The Gouveia's hearts were broken when they found out that their baby was pretty much already dead, and they get called killers.

Miss Gouveia, her husband, and the doctors, nurses, and other staff in that clinic are promoting mercy, compassion, and easing of pain.

The crowd outside is promoting shame, callousness, and pain.

It doesn't get any clearer than that.

K&R.

[YOY]

2. I've been around the anti-choice in my youth.

They're not exactly deep thinkers enough to be well-thought aii-wim.

The obvious emotional backlash from the visceral "killing babies" slogan along with their constant pictures of aborted fetuses is the kind of gut reaction they aim for.

[MedicalAdmin]

5. Old fogey here (apparently). Could you define aii-wim?

wim = woe is me -- perhaps?

aii = I have no clue.




Help the old man. Please. I've fallen in chat land and I can't get up.

[YOY]

9. When typing "anti-woman" one handed in a rush it's what happens.

n.t.

[femrap]

24. I already have this 'wim'

on Ignore....but I laughed at 'I've fallen in chat land and I can't get up.':rofl: :rofl: :rofl:

[YOY]

32. You have me on ignore?

Why?

I don't think I've said anything purposefully misogynistic recently...like in the past 20 years.

[HillbillyBob]

49. Those kind of kristians have no compassion, just bile(with signs)

nt

[bjobotts]

68. It's not a "baby" it's a fetus.No one is "pro-abortion" we are "Pro-choice"

You will only end up sending women into the alleys, not stopping abortions, for there were just as many abortions before R v W as after. Your against sex education and birth control but have the audacity to say abortions should be illegal

[Celtic Raven]

3. Love the threat to call the cops on him

for doing what they are doing themselves -- standing in public making a statement. I love that the filming makes them uncomfortable, but there is no expectation of privacy when you're out standing in the street waving signs at people.

:crazy:



Good for him!

:applause:

[babylonsister]

7. Welcome to DU, Celtic Raven!

:hi:

[Celtic Raven]

29. Thanks babylonsister!

:hi:

[Control-Z]

62. Welcome, Celtic Raven!!

It's always great when another good progressive joins the discussion.

[Celtic Raven]

98. Thanks Control-Z

:hi:

[jaxx]

4. Good for him.

I hope the do-gooders think about what he said the next time they want to scream at a woman who has chosen to have an abortion.

[MedicalAdmin]

8. Don't waste any hope on those gasbags.

If they did think they wouldn't be on the street with signs and they wouldn't be screaming at women. They are mentally ill and violently dangerous. They should be off the streets and getting the help (healthy and heavy doses of thorium perhaps) they need.

But don't expect cognition from these folks. They hardly have 2 functioning grey cells to rub together and the mental flames are not igniting. So they won't think about it next time, because they ain't thinking about it this time.

[mudplanet]

19. I think you mean thorazine

If we gave them thorium it'll solve our problem permanently

[indy legend]

41. Then how about a double dose just to make sure?

[femrap]

23. +1000

welcome to DU. I like your attitude!

[jmowreader]

50. Please, no thorium...

They're radioactive enough as it is. Maybe lithium?

[suzanner]

58. The ones outside my building get paid to stand out there.

I've asked them. Whether it's a religious or secular group paying them, I didn't ask. They're out there because there is an ob-gyn clinic in the building and they get paid.

[HillWilliam]

60. They get paid for walking the streets?

And they thought "teabagger" was bad when they finally got around to fingerin' out Teh Googly machine. Wait until they figure out how to look up "streetwalker". /snerk

Snark aside, it must means one's case is pretty lame when they have to pay people to picket for it. I guess they couldn't pry enough "rugged individuals" out of their mothers' basements and away from their Cheetos. Still, it doesn't say a lot for the people accepting pay to harass anyone, let alone to harass anyone because of a private medical decision.

[defendandprotect]

74. I've heard that the anti-abortion groups have gotten people from the drug clinics....

methadone? Read that somewhere recently.

And paid them, of course --

[bertman]

6. "Compassionate conservatives". Makes me want to puke. Rec. nt

[ThatsMyBarack]

63. No such thing.

It's an oxymoron.

[txlibdem]

91. You are WRONG about compassionate conservatives

Once your suffering will no longer provide them any more profits, they will let you die. See, their plans for you include the sweet blackness of death (you just have to let them steal all your assets first). Now THAT's compassion, merciful.

Allan Grayson summed it up in the Republican Health Plan
1. Don't get sick
2. Die quickly

I modified it:
1. Don't get sick
2. Die quickly -- AFTER the wealthy have drained all your assets

[perdita9]

10. More People should do what that Dad did

These pro-birth people don't get challenged nearly enough. They spew their bile mostly to people who agree with them so they never really thing about what they're endorsing.

[bongbong]

16. Proper name

Don't call these fascists "pro-birth". Call them by their rightful name:

Pro Big Government (as in wanting the gov't to control women's bodies)

[femrap]

25. I call them

Oppressors demanding Compulsory Motherhood. But where's daddy?

[indy legend]

42. You don't want to know what I call them but suffice it to say it would get me banned.

[Hepburn]

55. They are, IMO, anti-choicer-forced birthers. n/t

[FourScore]

11. God bless him. His wife is so fortunate!!!

He is a true knight in shining armor.

[Jumping John]

12. "Do you know how many

women commit suicide after getting an abortion?"

What unmitigated gall that she would ask that question when her tactics are being used expressly to make women feel guilty for having an abortion!!!

What hypocrisy it is that she would use that question to justify her hate for the woman who seeks an abortion.

[Hassin Bin Sober]

38. Just like the fundies who bully the fuck out of gay teens and then use gay suicide as ...

....an example of why being gay is wrong.

[ZombieHorde]

56. + 777 nt

[diane in sf]

57. women don't particularly commit suicide after abortions--this is just a birther lie

[defendandprotect]

75. Even Surgeon General DENIED that lie by right wing .... !!!

and if I recall correctly he was a Repug?

Not sure --

[mntleo2]

76. How many pregnant girls commit suicide? Hmmm? n/t

[indimuse]

13. KNR! n/t

[kag]

93. I am SO stealing this cartoon! n/t

:toast:

[JEB]

14. These narrow minded

religious bigots have done more to destroy real human lives than any abortion clinic ever could. Good on Gouveia for standing up to these hateful bigots.

[StandingInLeftField]

15. More power to Aaron Gouveia!

A brave young man during almost unbelievably difficult circumstances.

[Guilded Lilly]

17. Bravo! They deserved every syllable.

[PatrynXX]

18. shoulda told them go to a real church

tell that to dad all the time when he's yelling Jesus CHRIST or God Damnit and he's a member of the tea party and one of the voting members at his church. Cult. all members of some sort of cult. I grew up with the above shit. Nice little feet pin one puts on their shirt. 6 or 7th grade. Go figure.

[sagetea]

20. I so love it when husbands stand up for their wives

3 yrs. ago my husband and I discovered we were with child, and me with M.S.it was a hard/wise decision we had to make.
We went to the clinic and were met with protesters calling us names and getting very vocal in their opinions. Now my husband is 6'4" and 280 lbs. He took me into the waiting room, and went back outside, and set them idiots on their ass, so to speak. I was crying and hurt that in order to make my life a little longer and happier we had to choose what we did, but I felt so loved that he defended our choice and our love for each other so poignant and so emotional. I wish we had captured it on a camera. We are going on 18 yrs. of marriage and loving each other as we did the first year. So kudos to this husband, and loving comfort to he and his wife.

Ho
sage

[Control-Z]

66. I'm close to tears

after reading your brief story and so sorry you had to make such a difficult decision. Your husband obviously cares so much for you. Wow. I'm touched.

[Mad_Dem_X]

97. Thanks for sharing your story.

Your husband sounds like a wonderful man. :hug:

[ejpoeta]

21. its sickening how these people think they have a right to yell at anyone.

go home and look at YOURSELF and worry about fixing your own problems. And believe me, they have their own. I know, i have found myself trying to help others and had to face the fact that I do that because it's easier than fixing my own problems. I don't go out and tell others what to do, but I try to help people I see in tough situations. It's not hte same thing, but the impulse to do it is for the same reason. Some people are mad that they can't have their own kids (the one woman adopted and it's probably because she couldn't have her own) so they think they then have the right to force any woman who CAN get pregnant to have a kid.

I remember when I was 26 I got pregnant with my oldest. I was 26 and i was scared. i couldn't imagine being a teenager. I wasn't married. I was in college. I worried that my boyfriend would walk away. I was afraid to tell him. He didn't walk out. We had Emily and it was tough. We were poor and struggled. It wasn't easy. And we are lucky that we made it through. I couldn't imagine if I had been on my own and a teenager. I don't know how I would have survived.

I had a friend who got pregnant around that time. She was not much younger than me. She didn't tell me until later. I remember all she ever wanted was to get married and have kids. Her boyfriend told her he'd be there and then he took off. She ended up having an abortion. I know it broke her heart to do it. Her family were assholes to her about it. Her fucking brother who was a male whore had the fucking nerve to say a damned thing. She wasn't the kind to sleep around. She had a boyfriend and was with him. My daughter was 3 months when she told me. She was afraid to tell me!! She said she saw me go through with having my baby and she thought I would judge??? Who am I to judge her! I told her that I wish she would have felt comfortable coming to me. I would have been there for her. It is not for me to judge her! I think it was too hard for her to watch me with my daughter and she stopped calling me and wouldn't return my calls. I still think a bout her and wish she would have let me be there for her.

We are the ones who have to live with the choices we make, not people like these women with their signs. Whether we choose to have our child or not.... WE are the ones who will have to raise a kid or deal with whatever effects not having one will have. That is why I say that it is not my place to judge anyone else. WE were not all raised with white picket fences. Even if a woman wants a child she can realize that it would not be fair to that child to bring them into a situation or not be able to care for them. Sure there is adoption, but how many kids are sitting in foster care right now...

And even those born againers made their mistakes and did things they parrot on and on about today. They drone on and on so that they can feel like they matter. Waving signs around instead of maybe helping girls. Giving them that option by helping them.... providing them clothing or diapers. Making sure they have any assistance they may need to be able to take care of a baby.0

Whether they are seen as mistakes or blessings, we all have our own paths to take. For mistakes can be blessings. And sometimes it is the most selfless thing a woman can do to decide to make that choice. But they need to make that choice for themselves. Not me. Not you. Not those women.

[femrap]

28. Good read...

why people think they can control a women's freedom is beyond me. These people are gone when the fetus becomes a child and requires health care, food, an education and shelter. They don't want to pay for that.

[ejpoeta]

31. you are so right. then it's all about lazy welfare queens. be

consistent. if you want these kids born, then make sure they have food stamps and housing and medicaid.... you can't have it both ways.

[MikeMc]

36. They care about the fetus, from inception 'til month 9.

They can't stand welfare babies, though.

How many third-trimester fetuses did that 'pro-life' hero l'il bush let drown, while he vacationed during Hurricane Katrina? But he moved heaven and earth to save Terri Schaivo, because he believed that 'the strong have a duty to protect the weak. In cases where there are serious doubts and questions, the presumption should be in favor of life.'

See the pro-lifers double-think.

[abelenkpe]

54. I don't think they care about the fetus

If abortion was outlawed as they wish my daughter would not be here today. Her twin sister who could not have survived would have jeopardized her ability to make it to term. It's not life they are protecting but their own misguided dogma.

[backscatter712]

69. Conservatives want live babies, so they can turn them into dead soldiers.

The GOP wants women to be brood-mares for the state.

I love George Carlin!

[Alcibiades]

81. Not for the state

But for Jesus, or das Volk. They hate the state. Or claim to, until it comes time to call the cops on someone who stands up to them.

[MikeMc]

99. Right, ab.

I should have typed 'They only "care" about the fetus, from inception thru month 9.' My question about the 'unborn' body count from Katrina was trying to quantify their "care" for the unborn.

Their dogma is an excuse. They really care about controlling women. If they outlaw abortion here, their people will be jetting off to Swiss clinics to deal with any 'complicated' pregnancies.

[femrap]

22. He shouldn't feel foolish at all.....

I admire his gumption to stand up for his wife and what she has to go through.

Foolish? No fucking way. That was righteous anger aimed at a woman who deserved it.

And I don't believe for one fucking second that she has adopted children.

[duhneece]

26. What an incredible man

What an incredible human being. I so love him.

[happygoluckytoyou]

27. SAVE THE FETUS, NEGLECT THE CHILD.... get their butts in the street with signs for healthcare !!!

[kmac3]

37. Agreed

So glad you added this often omitted side of the subject. I have argued on this side of the problem forever. The same radical evangelicals that exercise these rants vote against every policy written that benefits children in any way ....

[The Backlash Cometh]

30. What a brave young man.

Wish we could start a movement based on his courage, but the right would retaliate with guns.

[mnhtnbb]

33. Good for him. Condolences to him and his wife.

He's right. They're self-righteous bullies. Want everything done their way, to their ideas,
to their sense of morality.

Years ago, when living in Lincoln, NE, I went out and confronted the Operation Rescue people
that routinely protested on Sunday mornings outside the huge Presbyterian church in my neighborhood,
who happened to have as a member--and deacon--the local physician who provided abortions through
Planned Parenthood. I took my Bible and read them Numbers 5:31--the abortion ritual--and the guy
who was leading the protest told all his female minions that I was 'the devil'--don't talk to me. Damn. Read them the Bible and I was the devil!

[Thav]

53. See, you read a portion of the bible

that went against their belief, message and position. That portion of the bible doesn't exist to them.

[kmac3]

34. Radical Interpretation At Work

I know from actual experience that this attitude toward choice is instilled in the minds of very young children through their churches .... Only those that separate from the tight control of the church ever get to explore the pros and cons to make an indivisual decision .... This is truly brain washing and as far as I'm concerned criminal to do to your children. I applaud this Father for addressing this ongoing display of radicals causing great grief for many already heart broken. :applause:

[butterfly77]

35. KICKIN..

[southernyankeebelle]

39. The day they prevent men from having more than one baby out of wedlock

then maybe I might agree with preventing unwanted births.

[meowomon]

40. I can't tell you how many "pro-life" women have abortions when it happens to them.

I worked at two different abortion clinics. One roman catholic woman was getting married in June, she had her abortion in February so she wouldn't be pregnant at her wedding. She was still "pro-life" and declined birth control because her church said it was a sin. She said she could be forgiven of murder but not birth control!!!!!!

[indy legend]

44. Right wing fundy logic at it's absolute best.

[PeaceNikki]

73. Here's a terrific read on this topic

http://mypage.direct.ca/w/writer/anti-tales.html

"The Only Moral Abortion is My Abortion" - When the Anti-Choice Choose
By Joyce Arthur

[beforeyoureyes]

78. Abortion providers report this type of hypocrisy ALL the time

They are special, you see.

Since they don't appprove of it in general, if they need an abortion, it doesn't count.

[mnhtnbb]

80. So true. Or how many "pro-life" fathers are on the phone to their family MD

asking for a referral when their teenage daughters get pregnant.

Living in St. Joseph, MO, my family practice MD told me that one time when I had one of my boys
in for a check-up or shots or something. I had gotten a reputation as the pro-choice person in
town who would talk to the media. Got hate letters, letters from right wing fundie ministers
telling me what I should believe...you name it. But it really amused me when the family practice
doc told me he couldn't count the number of 'pro-life" families he'd had call him up when their teen daughters got pregnant, to find out how they could get the girl an abortion. Such raging hypocrites.

[TEXASYANKEE]

43. I wish these people would re-direct their energy.

I wish they would help the people who are already here -- volunteer for hospice, work a soup line, do Meals on Wheels, volunteer at a pre-school. They waste so much hate and energy emoting about abortion, why not re-direct that passion towards people who actually truly need help.

[AnnieBW]

79. Better yet, work with the March of Dimes

or other organization that raises funds for birth defect research. If they're so fucking concerned about "saving the unborn", don't you think that they would want to end one of the main causes of women having abortions?

But no, that doesn't occur to them. Your baby can be born without a brain, or a liver, or whatever. You just have to carry it to term.

[leftynyc]

45. Shout out to my own father

And this was 20 years ago. We were driving in Rockland County, NY (just NW of the city) and passing a Planned Parenthood clinic on a Saturday. Dad saw the demonstrators, swore up a storm, pulled the car over, got out and started a shouting match with the mouthiest of them (Dad is a lawyer and is also pretty mouthy). He went after them for hating women, hating women who make their own decisions about their bodies, pointing out if men got pregnant, the issue would never be a problem, how he felt sorry for their wives and daughters.....this went on for 15 minutes or so. I was never so proud in my life. See Daddy, I'm still telling this story so many years later.

[babylonsister]

46. Wow, that's a fantastic memory for you! Major props to Dad! nt

[leftynyc]

48. He is very, very cool

and one of the strongest feminists I know. My sister and I lucked out.

[kag]

94. Wow! Good for your dad!

What a great story!

[nolabear]

47. God, that poor man. It was wonderful of him to make them face reality.

In my opinion, anti-choice protesters have a romantic notion of themselves as "saviors" without actually having empathy for the real difficulties of the life and death decisions the people they are there to torture face. Try to get them to, and they want to call the cops because you're "threatening" them. What you're threatening is their blindness and desire to tell you what you can do with your life. They are links in the conservative chain that wants to dictate what one can or cannot do on the one hand and blame the person who is affected by them for not being tough enough to live under their restrictive, reactionary dictates on the other.

[Althaia]

51. a couple of relevant videos

Keep your Jesus off my penis - because the protesters in the video think that their religion gives them the right to dictate other people's reproductive choices http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d5YrB7TpT1Y

an amazing slam poem, written for the Oklahoma lawmakers who tried to, in actual practice, outlaw abortion
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s9QI4v9Jehs

[Drale]

52. When I see people like that

I always make sure to walk close and start yelling RABBLE RABBLE RABBLE! They always ask the same thing "what do you think your doing", and I always answer the same thing "I want to join your bitchingfest". That always makes them mad, but it gives me a good laugh. On a side, Im guessing if those women where ever raped (not that I would ever EVER wish that one anyone) and they became pregnant, they would change their minds really quickly.

EDIT:You know I'm surprised you dont hear about people like these "protesters" getting the stuffing beat out of them more often.

[McCamy Taylor]

59. Wow! K&R.

[valerief]

61. Great clip. Thanks. nt

[ThatsMyBarack]

64. We need more men like Gouveia.

His wife is lucky to be married to him!

[Spiderzumbie]

65. I want to nominate this man for Best Husband of the Year

Sticking up for your wife, who's just gone through one of the most horrible things that could happen to a mother, and then completely dominating the argument! This man is my Hero! God Bless Aaron Gouveia! He and the "Dude, you have NO Koran" guy are part of the few out there who stick up for people's rights!

[RoccoR5955]

67. He's a better man than I am...

...I would have deck 'em... BOTH!

[backscatter712]

70. Good for him, standing up to the fetus fetishists!

I absolutely cannot stand the "pro-lifers". They're never pro-life after birth, are they?

[JBoy]

71. I'm very impressed with his ability to speak clearly and rationally under the circumstances.

Every second word would have been the f-bomb from me.

[evilkumquat]

72. How? How, how how how HOW...???

How in the hell did this guy resist swearing at those idiots?

Jesus Christ, I'm watching jerky cell phone footage and I'm practically frothing at the mouth at the evil, misguided, arrogant display of hubris shown by these two sign-wielding freaks.

This father is a much, MUCH better man than me for being able to not only stomach close proximity to these women, but to refrain from unleashing a tirade of obscenities at them.

[beforeyoureyes]

77. Did you hear them LIE and state that abortion causes suicide?!!!

Gross.

They hide behind their picture of Jesus to justify their self-righteous and sick behavior.

[kag]

96. On the other hand...

I'm sure these idiots think it's true. Doesn't excuse them, of course. But all they do is spew what their pastors, Fox Noise, and probably their husbands lie to them about.

In my college years I was a "pro-lifer." I hate that term, even to this day, but it's what I called myself back then. When I finally learned to think for myself I became an agnostic and a Democrat. A liberal, and proud of it.

Part of what changed my mind about abortion was an experience I had when I moved out to L. A., and shared a house with two other young women. One of them (I'll call her Susan) got pregnant and genital warts from the same one-night-stand. Our third housemate (who was actually better friends with her than I was) gave her all kinds of shit about having an abortion. Susan was in emotional agony, but resolute. Since her friend wouldn't drive her to the clinic, I did. I stayed with her until it was over and took her home. I knew right then what my own position (not my Dad's, not my priest's, etc.) on abortion would be.

If Susan had not had a clinic to go to, she probably would have sought out an illegal abortion. If she had carried it to term and given it up for adoption she never would have made her life the success that it eventually became, because this all happened at a critical time in her career. If she had kept it, they both would likely have lived in poverty and taken lots of government assistance.

It truly is "PRO-CHOICE" and the effort to end reproductive rights for women is, at its core, an attempt to subjugate women. Take aware our choices, and it deprives us of our independence.

I've lost touch with Susan, but I heard through a mutual friend that she now has a husband and two kids, and I couldn't be happier for her.

[RainDog]

82. K&R n/t

[diamondheart]

83. Good for him!!

[dana_b]

84. that happened to me

I had to go to a clinic to have my baby removed beause he had died in utero after 25 weeks. These people started yelling at me about how terrible I was and I was going to hell. If I wasn't already so emotionally distraught i would have given them a piece of my mind. That man in this video is a hero in my mind.

[babylonsister]

87. I am so sorry to read that, dana_b. It's hard to

believe people can be so cruel. :hug:

[dana_b]

89. and so ignorant

thanks.

:hug:

[knixphan]

85. K&R

[truthrocks]

86. THANK YOU Mr. Gouveia! You speak the truth!

[Maraya1969]

88. Did she ask him if he was pro-choice? I heard her say "are yo

a __________---- and he said yes and then the woman turned away. I think it was pro-choice but I wanted to be sure.

[The Uncola]

90. Anti-choice people are the lowest of the low.

They don't actually give a crap about "the po'po' babies," what they do is what all control freaks do, try to impose their own will upon others.

[KrazyinKS]

92. Remember all the D&C's

I live in Wichita, I am 55 and when I was young in High School I remember all the D&C's that were occurring. We don't hear that so much any more, but we might start hearing it again, there are currently no clinics here in town. What are people supposed to do? My mother was single and raised five kids, no help from anyone, and these same people that stood by and idly watched are now part of the "pro-life" movement here in town, HYPOCRITE'S!!!

[Mad_Dem_X]

95. Bravo! We need more men to do this.

We need more pro-choice men to speak up!